EMPLOYMENT IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Page shortcuts: CJ, POLICE, COURTS, CORRECTIONS, ACADEMIC, FEDERAL, GENERAL, INTERNSHIPS, OTHER.
Be advised that not all places in all jurisdictions may have all the positions discussed on this page, and many of them cannot be obtained via lateral entry or simply with a college degree in hand (although some of them can). In most cases, as with anything else, you have to work your way up from the entry-level. However, the more you learn, the more you earn. This is also not a page which should be relied upon for official figures or salary estimates. The most authoritative source (and highly recommendedreading) is the Occupational Outlook Handbook by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and there, you'll find police and public safety-related job prospects discussed under their "Service" category and court and correctional job prospects discussed under their "Professional" category. The BLS Handbook will also tell you which career fields are growing "faster than average" and "slower than average" as well as which states have the top salaries for any chosen job title.
GENERAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE JOB TITLES: This is "the list" or, in other words, the most commonly-seen list that most CJ departments put on their websites, brochures, and other publications.
Agent or InspectorAlcoholic Beverage Commission
Border Patrol Agent
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Bureau of Land Management Ranger
Bureau of Prisons Case Manager
Community college instructor
Community service worker
Correctional Administrator
Correctional Counselor
Correctional Officer (state, federal, private)
Court Administrator/Clerk
Court Translator (or Court Reporter)
Crime Scene Technician
Criminal Investigator (police or prosecutor's office)
Bureau of Land Management Ranger
Deputy U. S. Marshal
Domestic relations specialist
Drug Enforcement Administration
DWI Court Specialist
Enforcement Officer (various)
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Protection Service Officer
Fines and restitution specialist
Game & Fish Officer
Halfway House Staff
Hearings Officer
Immigration & Naturalization / Industrial Security
Institutional Research
Internal Revenue Service
Juvenile Probation & Parole Officer
Law School or Graduate School
Magistrate/Municipal Judge
Mediator
Motor Transportation Officer
Municipal Police Officer, County Detention Officer, or Sheriff's Deputy
National Park Service Ranger
Policy Analyst (or Research Analyst)
Postal Inspector
Pretrial Services Officer
Private Investigation
Probation & Parole Officer (State, county, or federal)
Program Director/staff (or Program Evaluator)
Secret Service Agent
Service Inspector
Special Agent
Special Agent & Internal Investigator
State Park Ranger
State Police Officer
State Prison Classification Officer
Teen Court Specialist
Trainer (police, courts, or corrections)
University Police Officer
U.S. Customs Service
U.S. Forest Service
Victim’s assistance provider
Victim-offender Specialist
SAMPLE LAW ENFORCEMENT JOB TITLES: The following lists come from various government publications, state employment job sites, and the claims of various job-finding firms.
Chaplain / Chief of Police / Chief of Staff / Commander / Commissioner
Communications Specialist / Community Policing Officer / Community Safety Officer / Community Service Officer / Conservation Officer
Crime Prevention Specialist / Crime Lab Technician / Crime Scene Technician / Customs Agent / Data Processing Specialist
Deputy Chief / Deputy Sheriff / Detective / Detention Officer / Document Examiner
Director of Research/ Development / Director of Scientific Services / Director of Standards & Training / Dispatcher / Drug Enforcement Agent
EMS Coordinator / Evidence Technician / FBI Special Agent / Fingerprint Expert / Firearms Instructor
Forensic Scientist / Gaming Enforcement Officer / Gang Crimes Investigator / Inspector / Instructor
Intelligence Analyst / Investigator / Jailer / Juvenile Specialist / K-9 Handler
Lawyer / Law Enforcement Planner / Law Enforcement Representative / Manpower Allocation Specialist / Narcotics Officer
Patrol Officer / Personnel Specialist / Photographer / Pilot / Polygraph Examiner
Psychologist/ Psychiatrist/ Psychometrician / Public Relations Officer / Public Safety Director / Radio Communications / Records Management
School Liaison / Scientist / Secret Service / Security Specialist / Serologist
Sheriff / Street Crimes Investigator / Superintendent / S.W.A.T. / T.A.C. officer
Technologist / Traffic Analyst / Trainer / Treasury Agent / Trooper
Undercover Operative / Undersheriff / U.S. Marshal / Water Patrol Officer / Witness Protection
SAMPLE COURT-RELATED JOB TITLES
Arbitrator / Assistant Administrator / Assistant Prosecutor / Background Investigator / BailiffBondsman / CJ Systems Planner / Court Clerk / Court Reporter / Courthouse Security
Defense Attorney / Deputy Assistant / Diversion Specialist / Expert Witness / Grants Administrator
Investigator / Judicial Assistant / Law Clerk / Lawyer / Legal Research
Manager / Mediation Specialist / Paralegal / Parole Officer / Probation Officer
Process Server / Sentencing Analyst / Victim Restitution
SAMPLE CORRECTIONAL JOB TITLES
Administrator/Warden / Affirmative Action Officer / Budget Analyst / Business Officer Manager / Chaplain
Chief of Programs / Chief of Security / Computer Specialist / Correctional Clerk / Correctional Counselor
Correctional Officer / Employee Development Specialist / Facility Manager / Food Service Supervisor / Health Systems Administrator
Juvenile Detention Officer / Juvenile Worker / Leisure Time Activities Specialist / Medical Records Supervisor / Ombudsman
Personnel Officer / Placement Officer / Psychiatrist/ Psychologist / Public Relations Officer / Records Office Manager
Teacher / Trainer / Transport Officer / Unit Management / Vocational Specialist
Note: Be aware that many of the careers listed are distributed by educational qualifications/experience and constantly being upgraded. Take into consideration that administrator, instructor, criminologist, counselor, lawyer, psychologist, psychiatrist, researcher, and chaplain jobs usually require a graduate or professional degree.
A WORD ABOUT ENTRY-LEVEL SALARIES (in 2008 figures)
Law Enforcement
Federal jobs at the entry-level usually start at about $39,500, at or near the national average, although more selective agencies like the U.S. Postal Inspectors and U.S. Marshals may start out at $46,000 or more. State jobs, on average, start at about $34,000 but may vary as much as 3,000 to 5,000 in an upward direction. County jobs, on average, start at about $29,500 and don't tend to vary as much although there is much disparity between rich and poor counties. City jobs vary the most, depending upon the city, but the average starting pay is usually anywhere between $31,000 and $41,000, mostly because there are more poor than rich cities. There has been a national movement in the last year or so to get municipal entry levels up, but many agencies have a tendency to start you out low, then give you a big raise after the first year or two, where you stay salary-wise until about five years later when you usually get another big raise. Of course, a lot depends on promotion, too. It is possible to make six figures a year as police chief in many of the nation's major metropolitan police departments, but you'll have to work your way up to that. Competition is tough for law enforcement jobs. Currently employed officers are constantly moving around from city to city in search of higher salaries. At the entry-level, where everyone starts, you have to really want it, bad.
The Courts
Jobs in the court sector, like probation and parole, have salaries that vary widely. Entry level pay ranges from $30,000 to $40,000, but federal positions range from $40,000 to $55,000 (some of the highest paid starting salaries in criminal justice are in federal probation), depending upon experience. Pre-employment in corrections or investigative work is usually the best preparation besides having a college degree, and just having a college degree is mostly OK in this field if you have good office management skills besides. Raises are not that common, but when they happen, they are across the board and usually moderate. Don't forget that the permanent hiring of college interns takes place quite often in the judiciary branch of the criminal justice system because they figure that anyone willing to take an interest in working in such a hectic, confusing environment is worth keeping. Court systems usually welcome interns and volunteers with open arms.
Corrections
Correctional pay varies tremendously from state-to-state. The national average is about $33,000 with places like Arkansas starting fairly low and places like New York and New Jersey starting very high. Federal corrections approximates the pay of top states, and has better benefits. In corrections, you will most likely receive regular salary increases every year along with easy-to-get merit raises until you are making about $40,000 or more by your fifth year. Promotion is very rapid in this sector due to high rates of employee turnover. A lot of people live happily and comfortably working in corrections; others use it as a stepping-stone to another career.
Fringes (in any CJ job) include: a take-home vehicle, clothing, equipment, other allowances or impunities, tuition reimbursement, educational incentive pay, bilingual incentive pay, paid insurance, paid holidays, paid vacations, a pension plan, accumulation of sick leave and comp time, family benefits, early retirement, and the chance to take promotional exams early. You probably won't find all of these in any one place, but you may find more than is listed here.
To maximize your income potential, consider large agencies with lots of job titles, especially civilian ones. Big cities are your best bet, but bigger is not necessarily better if the murder rate is higher than the mortality rate. If you like the idea of working at the county level, remember that when the U.S. was divided up, more counties were allocated down East than out West, so places like Georgia, for example, have more counties than Western and Midwestern states. Try to gravitate toward the comraderie of people like yourself.
LAW ENFORCEMENT-RELATED: see CALEA for a list of accredited police agencies and APAI for a 1996 list of agencies requiring the 4-yr college degree.
LawEnforcementJob.com An employment portal, links, and exchange site.
OFFICER.COM Employment DirectoryFederal and state-by-state listings from this popular site. For both seekers & providers.
Bob's Cops Employment Page Dedicated to cop employment, testing aides, links, etc. Makes the whole process better than searching the Net forever.
City County Jobs Local government connections with a law enforcement emphasis
Cop-Spot List of Law Enforcement Jobs Snazzy page by owner of a Web Ring. It's a popular site with a very helpful webmaster.
Cop Career Center Fairly new page of indexed jobs.
Criminal Justice Archive Helpful page devoted to finding/indexing available jobs.
Criminal Justice Career.com Useful site with a variety of jobs in the field.
Criminal Justice Schools.com Useful site with a helpful search feature.
GIS jobs in CJ Unique site that has GIS related job resource links
International Association of Crime Analysts This site has a jobs board as well as other information.
Jobs4police.com An effective guide and "hot jobs" listings in top departments, a free service.
National Directory of Emergency Services Police and Fire jobs listed here. Good source of information on a nationwide scale.
NC Police Job Hunting Resources Weaver's page is great. You can search newspaper ads.
NC Law Enforcement Jobs Bank The old NCJA BBS, updated weekly.
Peace Officer Jobs About police work and how to get a police officer job.
Police Guide Employment Pages Another popular site that tries to list only current job openings. Regularly updated and maintained.
Public Safety Recruitment A fee-based service. This is the newsletter you often see on bulletin boards around college campuses.
State Police Information Center Another fee-based provider of state and federal career information.
Law Enforcement Careers Publishers of state and federal career, testing & interviewing guides.
COURT-RELATED JOBS:
The Legal Employment Search Site Plan to spend at least half a day with this one. Lots of links.
Quid Pro Quo's List of Legal Jobs A site designed to help law students & job seekers.
The ABA's Internships and Jobs site Helpful page with legal and nonlegal resources.
CORRECTION-RELATED JOBS:
Corrections Connections The premiere corrections-related site devoted to nationwide coverage.
The ACA Jobs Bank Job listings from this professional association.
Tennessee Dept. of Correction, NC Division of Corrections, OTHER STATES: Massachusetts, Florida.
NYS C.O.'s Information Page Correctional jobs openings/issues in New York State area.
JailNet State-by-state information at this well-organized site.
ACADEMIC JOBS:
Academic 360 dot com - free index of all personnel and human resource departments.
Academic Careers Online - a no-charge academic job site
Academic Employment Network - commercial, searchable, college and high school.
Academic Position Network (APN) - widely-used, commercial site, mostly college.
Chronicle of Higher Education - premiere site for teaching jobs in Criminal Justice/Criminology. Most everybody looks here first, especially for international jobs.
Higher Education Jobs - premiere site alternative to Chronicle (Criminal Justice is under Liberal Arts). Most everybody looks here first, here or the Chronicle.
Inside Higher Education - premiere site alternative to Chronicle (many Criminal Justice jobs listed) at this web zine read by many college presidents and provosts
Nation's JobNetwork - very usable and searchable
- jobs in the U.K.
also see: State-by-State guide to Starting Salaries for Asst. Professors, as well as Grad Schools in CJ
POLICE DEPARTMENTS THAT USUALLY HAVE OPEN RECRUITMENT:
OUT-OF-STATE:Albuquerque, New Mexico
Anchorage, Alaska
Augusta, Maine
Baltimore County
Berkeley, California
Boulder, Colorado
Dallas, Texas
Fargo, North Dakota
Georgia B of I
Houston, Texas
Jacksonville Beach, FL
Los Angeles, California
Memphis, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
New Orleans, Louisiana
Portland, Oregon
Prince George Co., Maryland
Pueblo County, Colorado
Sacramento, California
Spokane, Washington
Your BEST starting point to search for federal jobs is the site at RIGHT======>UsaJobs
FedWorld is the place to get information about specific government agencies
The U.S. Customs Service has open periods of recruitment, usually around October or so.
FBI Personnel and Employment Information and statistics on recruitment, hiring, salaries, and other things.
Park & Summer Camp Jobs for a link to outdoor and/or seasonal employment.
PoliceEmployment.com Quick access to some information which is free (example: the U.S. Marshals when they have an "open period"). This place charges ten bucks ($10) for their exam prep booklets and other stuff, which doesn't seem like a bad deal. Of course, OPM will send you exam prep materials free anyway, which in most cases, is more than adequate, but this place is also starting to sell booklets for state-by-state trooper jobs and correctional officer exams. An even better FREE link is at Govtjobs.com.
Recruitment Pages of Federal Agencies This site claims to index these pages for as many federal agencies that do this, but in most cases, the links take you to the agency page.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the official Personnel Office for all federal agencies. Their HUGE jobs page is at usajobs. You need to make note of the vacancy announcement and any supplemental qualifications statement for each job title you're interested in with special interest focused on the 6-digit control number for the vacancy announcement. To browse through the announcements, it may help to know that many careers are split into two categories: Professional Careers and Entry Level Professional Careers.You will need Form OF-612 and a resume to apply for most federal jobs.If you have trouble downloading the form, you may find it helpful and convenient to visit one of the regional OPM Service Centers to pick up the form.
Civil Service/OSP/DES Job Openings:
Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / ArkansasCalifornia / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware
Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho
Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas
Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland
Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi
Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada
New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York
North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma
Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina
South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah
Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia
Wisconsin / Wyoming / District of Columbia
GENERAL SITES:
STARTING POINTS FOR BEGINNERS: See the List of Job Titles (below) if you are unfamiliar with CJ terminology and want a peek at average starting salaries. There are some unusual job titles in the CJ field. Also, be sure to learn how to use the Occupational Outlook Handbook for sample job descriptions, working conditions, salary data, and what's growing. See my How to Get a Job in CJ which walks you through a full-length application, interview, selection, and promotion process of any basic civil service-type job. For law enforcement careers, you might want to familiarize yourself with the Reciprocity POST Portal which contains POST Standard equivalencies between states.
In addition, you might want to visit Indeed.com's "Ten Tips for a Successful Online Job Search" or Dr. Carlie'sAdviseNet to find out where the field is going, as well as one of the general advice sites below. Consider contacting one of the ASC's E-mail mentors at the ASC E-Mail Mentor Directory, although this resource will be more appropriate for aspiring graduate students.If you're still thinking about continuing on with school instead of getting a job, then check out my CJ EDUCATION page.
How to Apply for Positions Advertised on the Internet: Have your resume and cover letter prepared and stored on diskette in text format, sometimes called ASCII or DOS text format, or whatever format is called for by the service you plan to use. Word-wrapping, embedded word processing commands, running headers and footers, and PostScript characters don't e-mail well, so have your word processor save your resume in text format (resume.txt), and check to make sure it looks good when opened by various programs on your computer (Notepad, word processors, e-mail to a friend, etc). Tips: use asterisks (*) or plus signs (+) instead of bullets, use dashes (---) to separate sections; DON'T UNDERLINE ANYTHING; Don't use bold type; avoid italics; and don't try to color highlight any headers or sections of your resume. Don't include photos or graphics.
When you E-mail a resume to an employer, use the job title as your "Subject" line and include any numerical codes for the position that they use. If you are "cold calling" someone about a possible job opening, put your objective "To obtain a position..." in the "Subject" line. When you are posting your resume with a listing service (see General), make sure your resume is in its final (or generic) form, because once you post it, many database providers charge money for updates. In all cases, follow any specific instructions from the employer or the listing service. Be apologetic if you are sending "unsolicited" e-mail (in most cases, it's better to go through your school's Career Center; see Internships).
WEB SITES in this area defy categorization, but generally can be divided into three types: ADVICE sites; JOB DATABASES, and RESUME DATABASES. The advice sites sometimes offer the other two services. Job Databases usually consist of job openings that have been extracted from state employment office listings, other sources, and the occasional headhunter or employer recruitment campaign. Resume Databases allow you to post your resume, and are based on the idea that recruiters browse through these in searching for a pool of applicants. Each site has its own "hype" about how many and which kind of employers browse their databases. I recommend the following full-service sites: